Photos of New Mexico Fires Are Heartbreaking

Fire can be beautiful to look at, but in these photos of the raging New Mexico wildfire, it's not. It's just scary, a reminder of its awesome power and destruction.

TheNew Mexico wildfire that started in Las Conchas has burned nearly 50,000 acres -- that's about 93 square miles in an area around Los Alamos, home of the famous national lab best known for developing the first nuclear bomb. Imagine your own home, on your one to two acres of land. Maybe you live on less than that, maybe you live on a farm and own way more than that. But 50,000 acres of destroyed land -- it's hard to wrap your head around that no matter how big your property.

Our hearts break over these images, most taken by news crews from a plane.

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Los Alamos is a virtual ghost town today after mass evacuations yesterday. About 30 structures have been destroyed by the fire so far -- by looking at these pictures, it's amazing that the number has been so low. Great job, firefighters.

Local residents might think they were looking at the other devastating wildfire that ripped through the area 11 years ago. Crews are working hard to contain the blaze, but it has the potential to double or triple in size before it's done.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory is closed today until further notice. While the fire spread there, officials said it was quickly contained and all radioactive materials were stored safely away.

All the trees and greenery in the area were just starting to come back to life after the 2000 blaze that also destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings in town. And now it's all gone again.

If you truly want to grasp the power of this fire, watch this amazing time-lapse video of the Los Conchas fire from the vantage point of a couple's home just north of Santa Fe. The Los Alamos labs can be seen to the right of the fire.